The aims of the Renal Research Core are: Specific Aim 1: Merge the complementary elements of the UMSHN and ERI program at UMB to enhance the primary missions of each entity and develop a unified action plan within the Kidney Disease Research Core. Specific Aim 2: Utilize the structure of the UMSHN and the focus of the ERI Program to increase surveillance for early kidney disease particularly in areas of underserved populations with a high predominance of African-Americans. Specific Aim 3: Set up pathways through which individuals with kidney disease identified from the statewide surveillance program can link into ongoing studies, educational initiatives and specialized care programs that are all dedicated to narrowing the racial disparity in kidney disease Specific Aim 4: The Renal/Kidney Disease Research Core will establish an effective and enduring infrastructure for sample and data collection that can be utilized for community-based enrollment and examination of individuals participating in ongoing and future trials related to kidney disease. The Renal/Kidney Core also has the outstanding participation of Dr. Eve Higginbotham as a Co Investigator. Dr. Higginbotham will participate in the Renal/Kidney Research Core as well as the Shared Resource Core. In the Renal/Kidney Research Core, she will lend her expertise in the area of ophthalmologic disorders, which affect patients at risk for renal disease, patients with renal disease, such as diabetics and hypertensives, or renal patients who have comorbidity such as glaucoma. Dr. Higginbotham and her faculty and staff, Drs. Scott Steidl and Nancy Ellish, will evaluate, in the Shared Resource Core, a novel Teleopthalmology project that may assist renal patients and other types of patients with compliance with recommended guidelines for eye screening.